Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Wake Up and It's the Magic Tower
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"Found out who they are, huh?"
"Yeah. They turned out to be more famous than I expected."
The red-haired woman, Iris Repaine—lord of Repaine and a master mage—quickly scanned the documents she'd been handed.
Haken Wert, Gray, Adolf. Iris let out a hollow laugh once she'd speed-read through them.
"That bitch was Gray? This is a big fish."
Gray. Nicknamed the Whisper in the Shadows. A rare female assassin who'd reached the master realm, her stealth unmatched by any rival. The poisons she crafted herself could even fell other masters, so the moment she got the drop on you, it was game over.
"But that kid caught Gray?"
Adolf wasn't a pushover either, but what hit Iris harder was that the Sword Empress's disciple had killed Gray. She was confident she could beat Adolf handily, but the thought of Gray targeting her sent chills down her spine.
Even masters had bad matchups. What if she fought Adolf, who went for heavy single strikes? Iris would keep her distance, unleash a barrage of spells, and that'd be that.
But Gray versus Iris? Gray sneaks up without a sound, stabs her once, and Iris is gasping and twitching until her throat's slit.
Of course, by master level, everyone had ways to cover their weaknesses, but hey, the results were in. What could you do?
"Gray got shit luck. Running into a guy like that."
In that sense, the Sword Empress's disciple was Gray's perfect counter. No idea how he handled the poison, but at a glance, his senses outstripped her stealth.
He was even faster than Gray, and his raw power crushed her signature illusion swordplay. For an assassin like Gray, failing to end it on the first strike sealed her fate.
"The Sword Empress raised a monster."
"That good?"
"Nah, it's like..."
As she'd said, matchups existed. Usually, you were weak to some and strong against others, but this guy?
From what she could see, he had no bad matchups. You'd need a straight-up superior powerhouse to overwhelm him—and that was obvious. Any other way around it? Maybe exploit the risks in that bizarre technique of his.
Seemed like an overdrive berserk skill. Draw it out, then drag things into a prolonged fight. But honestly, considering its power, wasn't that just the same as getting crushed by a superior foe?
"Uh... even you couldn't beat him, my lord?"
"Me?"
Heh. Iris smirked with full confidence.
"Of course not. I'm a mage. A battle mage, sure, but I couldn't take that guy."
Mages were quick to face facts.
*
The next morning, Enoch woke to find himself splayed out on a tree branch like wet laundry, staring blankly at the ground below. Crawling ants, leaves rustling in the breeze, and then Yonia's face popping up out of nowhere.
"You're up? Let's go."
"...Where?"
"To see the lord."
Ignoring the nonsense, he checked his condition. Overall, it was abysmal. As expected, Thunderbolt Divine Transformation wasn't viable at his current level. Push it to the limit, and his body really would scatter into lightning.
Surprisingly, though, the gash in his side from the dagger was mostly healed. It'd been a deep stab, twisted viciously to tear the wound wide—yet somehow, it was nearly mended.
'Linked to the Heavenly Slaughter Star somehow?'
Last time he'd gone berserk, his wounds had healed up quick too. He'd have to look into it later.
"Hey! You're ignoring me again! We gotta go!"
"...Why exactly?"
"'Cause you wrecked the whole city!"
"That wasn't my fault."
It was those people chasing him to kill him. All he'd done was fight back.
"So, did you wreck more, or did they?"
"I wrecked more, yeah?"
"What about the people whose homes got blown away?"
"Not my problem."
If they had a problem with that, they should've defended them properly from the start. Why let the houses get destroyed?
"...How do you defend houses in a fight like that?"
"Rione kept hers safe, didn't she?"
"You think normal people are on the same level as Lady Rione!?"
"If it bugs you, get stronger."
If you slacked off and stayed weak, that was on you.
"...This guy's seriously dangerous."
For the sake of world peace, shouldn't they take him out first? Yonia sighed, half-serious.
"Anyway, let's go. You promised."
"Oh, right. The promise."
A promise was a promise. Enoch hauled himself up.
"You're impossible to figure out..."
What the hell was his moral compass? Yonia pondered.
*
[Daddy... that technique is seriously messed up... I'd rather jump into lava...]
As they trudged toward the city, Eri finally came to, groaning as she crawled out from his middle dantian. Exhausted, she flopped limply over his head, tail swishing lazily.
"Hm?"
Enoch glanced upward. The tail brushing his nape felt off. He plucked Eri from atop his head and held her in front of his face.
[Daddy?]
"Oh."
Enoch brightened.
"Your tail got longer."
[Eung?]
Eri, dangling by the scruff, peered down. Swish, swish—one tail, two, three... four.
[Oh!]
"Looks like Thunderbolt Divine Transformation helped."
[No way...!]
Enoch—having duly noted that the technique aided Eri's growth—passed through the gates and headed for the lord's castle. But before they'd covered half the distance,
"You're here."
The lord herself had come out to greet them.
"Elves sure keep their word like clockwork."
"Promises are meant to be kept, aren't they?"
"Some folks think they're optional."
The lord chuckled and extended a hand to Enoch. He shook it roughly, then she shook Yonia's too before introducing herself.
"I'm Iris. Iris Repaine. Turns out those guys were Haken Wert and his crew. Not sure if I should thank you or curse you for it."
"If you're torn, just go with thanks. I'm outta here."
"Not so fast."
Grab. Enoch's nape was seized as he tried to bolt. He nearly reflexively blasted lightning, but whether that was lucky or not, yesterday's overexertion meant none came.
"Not asking much. It was your fault... sort of, but you couldn't exactly hold back against Haken Wert's bunch."
"So let me go?"
"Just help clear the debris and tend to the wounded."
Tch. Enoch clicked his tongue but let Iris drag him along without resistance. They soon arrived at the site of yesterday's battle.
[Whoa, what a mess.]
Enoch had no concept of holding back. He'd gone all out, so this was inevitable. One whole section of the city might as well have been erased. Yonia paled.
"You're saying... we clean all this?"
"Yep."
Thanks to the nature of Heavenly Slaughter Thunder God Art, the buildings hadn't disintegrated neatly. Massive chunks lay scattered everywhere. At least the ones he'd punched were smaller bits. Enoch assessed blankly.
"Hmm..."
He clenched the gloves on his hands a bit tighter.
"Sigh..."
One sigh, one spell.
"Why me..."
One complaint, one spell.
Ten spells muttered under his breath, and intricate circuits etched themselves into the gloves. He cupped his hands forward, and Iris gaped at him.
"You, you...! How...!"
"What?"
"You! That's magic! You! Magic!"
She'd lost coherent speech. Intelligence regressed to monkey levels—time to bail? Before he could decide, Iris shrieked.
"How are you using dragon-style magic!"
"Oh, that. Big deal."
"Big deal!? Do you have any idea how insane that is!? Argh...!"
She clutched her neck, fuming.
"Primeval magic isn't something you pick up anywhere! It's not even teachable like that—how did you...!"
"Primeval magic?"
"You don't even know that!?"
Iris explained: magic systems fell into three main categories.
Primeval magic, the true magic used by dragons.
Classical magic, developed after the father of magic, Pargandal Majishion, invented circles.
Quantum magic, a recent offshoot of classical.
Quantum was too esoteric for most, so people often lumped it into just primeval and classical.
"I'm just doing what Rione taught me."
"The Sword Empress...! Right! She started using primeval magic after hitting grandmaster!"
Iris bounced in excitement.
"But how are you doing it!? Your middle dantian shouldn't even be open!"
"Haa..."
Too much to keep up with. Enoch decided to tune her out. Ten spells stored in the gloves. One he cast himself. Fingers together, thrust forward, halo forming over them.
"Sort and process."
Layer upon layer of magic wrought miracles on reality. Massive boulders stacked neatly in one spot; debris hurled beyond the walls.
"Argh..."
His already wrecked condition worsened. Enoch flopped flat on the ground.
"...I've done enough."
"You! Come with me somewhere!"
"...I'm sleeping."
"Sleep all you want! You'll wake up in the magic tower!"
Zzz... Enoch was out for real.
And when he really opened his eyes, there was the magic tower.